These studies always make me laugh as they are so earnest in their belief that they have come up with some earth shattering theory that will have I am not sure what significance in the real world. And have any of these people actually lived with dogs ( or wolves for that matter) or are their conclusions based on a small sample of wretched laboratory animals who have been raised to be experimented on?
"Monique Udell, an animal behaviorist at Oregon State University, Corvallis, says her own study of dog and wolf behavior, also presented at the meeting, supports Range’s contention that dogs are waiting for orders. To find out if dogs are “independent problem solvers,” she presented 20 adult dogs (10 pets and 10 from shelters) with sealed containers of summer sausage. Each animal was allotted 2 minutes to open it. Ten captive wolves were given the same test. Not one of the adult dogs succeeded; most did not even try. Meanwhile, eight of the 10 wolves opened the container in less than 2 minutes. So did dog puppies, indicating that dogs are no less capable of the task than wolves, but “as the dog grows and becomes more dependent on its human owner that [independent] behavior is inhibited,” Udell said.
Underscoring the point, she found that adult pooches could open the container after all—when their human owner told them to do so. Because dogs “suppress their independence, it’s difficult to know what their normal problem-solving abilities are,” she told the meeting.
It may be that we have to give Fido a command to find out."
This quote from the link is the funniest of all. I can't imagine there are many people who live with a dog or dogs who have not found them to be experts at getting into any box, pouch, bag , cupboard etc and snaffling food they shouldn't have. I have lost count of the things in our house that have ended up on high shelves to keep them out of reach of our little dogs because they do or did contain some food at one time. Magic can scale tables at one leap to get at a plate that might still have the remains of dinner, Crybbe can take apart a handbag in minutes to locate anything edible or open a zipped pouch to reach treats. Maybe we have raised our dogs to be independent thinkers - in which case it says more about the people conducting these trials than the participant canines.
P.S. Just looked out of the window to see our guest mini schnauzer sauntering down the garden having worked out how to overcome all the gates, fences and other obstacles to stop her - and actually told her not to - guess she never learned to suppress her independence either
